


Weirdness

by HiddenTreasures



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-02
Updated: 2017-12-02
Packaged: 2019-02-09 10:55:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12886386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HiddenTreasures/pseuds/HiddenTreasures
Summary: The Doctor finally identifies the weirdness that had been troubling him since going to the parallel world with Rose.





	Weirdness

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by doctorroseprompts 31 Days of Ficmas, wherein day 1′s prompt is hope.

Things were weird when they got back. Not bad. Not at all. They cuddled and kissed and yes, they even made love, and it was as perfect and special as it had been their very first time after getting home from the impossible planet under a black hole. She’d held him so tight, and he’d clung to her in return. He had to admit it was so overwhelming to be back with Rose and to be sharing in her body and be basking in her unconditional love that he’d let a few tears fall. But so did she, and he kissed them away, just as she kissed his away.

And for as perfect and normal as everything felt, things were still… weird.

He couldn’t put his finger on it, and oh, how that bothered the hell out of him. He wanted to ask Rose, but what if he was seeing something that was actually nothing, and she took it to mean that he felt weird and didn’t want to be there and what if she got upset with him?

His internal dilemma went on for a few weeks, as he got distracted with the upcoming holidays. It was late November when the other Doctor dropped them off. He never would have guessed, based on the mild temperatures on that Norwegian beach, but apparently this universe was still healing from the Void breaches. He remembered Pete had told him there was massive global warming, and while the climate had steadied, the result was in a much milder winter than the Doctor was used to.

“We’ll have to go somewhere with a proper winter as soon as the TARDIS is all grown up,” he said. “Wouldn’t that be nice?”

“Yeah, sounds perfect,” Rose said brightly, beaming.

Never mind that it would take about two years until they could travel again…

The spent most of December decorating their flat and the Tyler manor, and going shopping and wandering around the city to admire the decorations, and things would have been utterly perfect, and he would have been absolutely content with his new life, if not for the little niggling sense of weirdness.

It was going to drive him mad. He needed to either talk to Rose, or get over whatever issue he was having, and this needed to happen soon before he accidentally mucked something up with her.

One night after tea with Jackie, Pete, and Tony, and after a glorious bout of shagging, the Doctor decided to just go for it.

“Hey, Rose,” he murmured into her hair, while she was curled up into his side.

“Hmm?”

“You all right?” he asked, immediately feeling daft and awkward.

“Mhm,” she mumbled, peaking up at him, and the sleepy, sated smile on her face twisted his heart so wonderfully. “You all right?”

“Yeah, I think,” he answered. Her smile slipped, and she pushed herself up onto her elbow to look at him.

“Is something wrong?” she asked, worry pinching her brow.

“I… I don’t know,” he admitted. “Have things felt… okay… since we came here?”

“I thought they were,” she answered, frowning. “But now you’re worrying me.”

“Things have felt weird,” he blurted out, feeling his cheeks burn. “And I can’t put my finger on it, because things have just been so bloody perfect. I’ve never been happier, and I love you so much and I’m so glad to be here with you and to have you back again. But… there’s this, this _weirdness_ that I can’t explain, and it’s been putting me on edge, and I’ve been worried maybe there’s something you’re not telling me? It is about the other Doctor, maybe? Because that’s okay, you know. Really, it’s fine. I can’t imagine how much it hurt for you to have to leave one of me behind, and I’m sorry if I’ve made this relationship progress far too quickly and…”

A pair of warm, soft lips stopped his inane rambling, and he hummed into the kiss.

“Breathe,” she reminded. “And slow down.”

“Sorry,” he said with a sheepish smile.

“I’m perfectly happy,” she murmured. “Yes, I’m still hurt that the other Doctor left, but I’m overjoyed that I have you, and get to keep you forever. I still miss him, but I have so much fun with you. I love him, and always will, but I love you, too, forever. I will never forget him, and I will never stop loving him, but that doesn’t mean I wish I was with him. Okay?”

“Yeah,” he whispered, still not quite identifying the weirdness.

“That didn’t help, did it?” she asked wryly.

He shrugged. “I mean, it’s nice to know what you’re thinking. But I still don’t know what I’m feeling.”

He shrugged again, then leaned up and pecked a kiss to her chin. “I don’t think I’m going to identify it anytime soon. But if I figure it out, I’ll let you know.”

“Is it a bad weirdness?” she asked, even as she tucked herself into his side again.

“Definitely not,” he said. “Don’t worry about it. At least I know it’s not coming from your end. It’s just me that’s weird.”

“Well I could’ve told you that,” she said with a cheeky wink. He stuck his tongue out, and she giggled and pressed a kiss to his chin. “Night, Doctor. I love you.

“Love you,” he whispered, watching her roll away from in and onto her own pillow.

He turned away and pulled the blankets up to his chin before he fell asleep beside her.

It was at 3:28 in the morning that he had his epiphany.

He awoke from a dream that he couldn’t remember the details off, only that it was so peaceful. When he opened his eyes and saw Rose asleep beside him, with her mouth hanging open and her cheek smushed into her pillow and her hair tangled in a know that he got that sense of weirdness again.

Only… it was a really, really great weirdness. It filled him with such warmth and love, and he had to stop himself from rolling up next to Rose and gathering her into his arms. He wanted to hold her and squeeze her tightly to him and tell her again and again how much he loved her and how happy he was to have her, forever.

Forever. That was it. That was the weirdness. He’d always heard people tell him forever. Even Rose had promised him forever, but back then, when he was an ancient Time Lord with countless years before him, he never believed them.

But with Rose, and this new human life, he finally believed her. He believed in her and in them, and in their forever. He could stay with her for the rest of their life, and they could do anything and everything together. There wasn’t anything off limits anymore. He was completely, one-hundred percent hers, and he was sure the opposite was true, and that she was his.

The knowledge of all of this, of his forever with Rose, filled him with such hope, and that was the weirdness he couldn’t put his finger on. He’d never had much cause for hope before. Sure, he had hope in lots of things, but rarely for himself. Now here was Rose, and here she was, offering her true forever with him, and he could finally have it.

This realization overwhelmed him, and he could no longer keep himself from touching her. He rested his head on her pillow, and wrapped his arm around her waist.

She grunted and shuffled onto her side, and he spooned up behind her.

“I love you, my Rose,” he murmured into her neck, planting long kisses to her skin, because he felt he might burst apart with how much love and adoration was coursing through him.

She let out a soft snore in response, and he grinned. He closed his eyes and nuzzled closer, letting the warmth of his new epiphany lull him back into a sleepy state of relaxation. He’d tell Rose in the morning that he finally put a word to the weirdness, but for now, he would join her in sleep.


End file.
